never lost for words

Stone the Fruit!

Have you notice how good Aussie stone fruits are at the moment? Peaches, plums, nectarines, mangoes, and cherries—so yum, and so good! But you can do so much more with stone fruit than popping them in a fruit salad, so we’ve sourced some great recipes to take you right through the day—from breakfast to mains and dessert—and get your daily intake of three pieces of fruit at the same time! We’ve also included veggie/vegan options for the salads and dessert. You’re welcome!

Breakfast

Best Aussie breakfast with best Aussie fruit!

Muesli with nectarines and pomegranate is a super-easy and super-booster start to the day. Just get your favourite muesli and add slices of nectarine, pomegranate seeds*, and passionfruit pulp, and top with dollop of natural yoghurt. Delish! Vegans can find Kingland vegan yoghurt in Canberra at selected Coles Supermarkets.

*If you’ve never tried pomegranate, all you do is cut them in half and scoop out the seeds. But remember to remove all the yellow pith around the seeds as it’s very (very) bitter and will put you off ever having pomegranate again … not to mention ruining your muesli …

Main—Baked salmon or chicken with nectarine salad

Baked salmon with peaches and salad

Roast your chicken as normal, and bake the salmon as per our recipe in Seven Days of Eating Healthy, and serve with poached peaches or nectarines, or one of our great salads below.

Salads and sides—Nectarine salad

Roast chicken with nectarine salad and potato wedges

You will need one nectarine and a couple of large radish per person, plus a few rings of Spanish onion. Cut the nectarine into quarters then in half again, thinly slice the radish, and onion, add the dressing, and gently toss together in a large bowl. Decorate with a bit of greenery—rocket or baby spinach leaves. This salad takes a light oil and lemon dressing really well. Just add two tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil, one tablespoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice, and a teaspoon of white wine vinegar in a bowl, and whisk together until well blended.

Rice salad with mango—serves 2

Thai rice salad with Aussie mangoes

This salad looks and tastes terrific, and you can give it a Thai kick by adding a teeny amount of finely chopped chilli in your dressing. For two people we used 2 cups of cooked rice, and 3 cooked Tiger prawns each. Cook your rice as normal and set aside to cool. Slice up some cucumber, red (Spanish) onion, and lightly steamed green beans. Then cut your Tiger prawns (tails off) in half lengthways and toss the veggies and prawns into the rice. Add lemon dressing (see above) and finely chopped chilli (optional) and mix well. Decorate with nice cubes of fresh mango and a bit of coriander. Vegetarians and vegans can substitute lightly steamed mushrooms and sprigs of broccolini for the prawns.

Dessert (serves 2 – 3)

Individual plum crumble—serve with cream or ice-cream

This is a really simple take on your regular apple crumble. We made individual plum tarts but you can easily adjust the recipe to make a large one. You can also use peaches instead of plums. You will need one plum per ramekin. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celcius. Slice the plums (no need to peal, but you might prefer to peal the peaches) and place in the ramekin. In a bowl, rub together ½ cup of SR flour (wholemeal or GF if you prefer), ¼ cup raw sugar, pinch of cinnamon (optional), and 4 tablespoons of cold butter*, until it resembles large crumbs—alternatively, you can throw everything in the food processor and whiz until crumbed—then spoon onto the plums. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the plums are soft when tested with a skewer, and serve immediately with cream and/or ice cream. Delish!

*Vegans can buy Honest to Goodness coconut butter online, or from Ainslie IGA, and Over the Moo vegan ice-cream from Evatt IGA, Twenty One Café and Groceries in City West, or check Over the Moo website for other outlets.